Forums » Suggestions

Get rid of the magic.

«12
Aug 01, 2016 incarnate link
This is a long-planned change. It was not a result of "carebears". I have a lot of tweaks related to rebalancing of relative protections, factional/TempKOS ramifications and the general breakdown and meaning of unaligned, monitored and guarded space.

Some of it is intended to keep newbies from entering gray too soon, others are intended to prevent things that are just excessively stupid. Your feedback is all noted, but some of this stuff has been planned for a really, really long time.

One of the notable things in that old post that's currently absent, is an escalating scale of temp-KoS ramifications. We added the most basic version, but not what I actually wanted. (Also absent are the IFF changes and various other things).

So, anyway, that's all neither here nor there.. the point is simply, stuff is going to be changing. Some of it I imagine will be celebrated universally, others may be controversial. But, it's going to change nonetheless. The argument of "I learned to play with the current broken stuff, so it's good enough, don't change it!" is not a valid one as far as I'm concerned.

I am also not going to be adding insta-kill beam weapons everywhere. If any nuanced change in defenses between the current situation, and insta-kill beam weapons, is impossible to imagine.. well, I can't help with that. There's a huge amount of gray area in there. Escalating strike forces, border patrols, "illegal" transponders that pirates might use to cross borders (but have time limitations or other issues).. all stuff I've talked about for years. Lots of changes.

The process of mining LENBs, while not terribly important (which is why I let it go for so long), was also really stupid. If people want LENBs, then follow Wash's example and request that it be added to cargo allotments, or some other thing (probably in a different Suggestion thread, as this one "appears" to be about the magical issue).

I am not reverting the change on mines. I'm sorry it bothers some people, but I consider the presented arguments to be a little silly. Basically, I could "realistically" make the mines explode after 2 seconds, and print to the HUD "Mine destroyed by <Station X>, mines are not allowed in the NFZ!" and the whole realism/magic complaint would go out the window.

However, choosing the current implementation instead means I don't have to deal with the inevitable support tickets of "the station destroyed my TU mine! I want it refunded!" and "I blew up because the station destroyed my mine! I want all my stuff back! And a pony!" So, instead we have this.

I'm not against improving on it, I'm fine with suggestions of improved solutions that achieve the same fundamental goal (no mines in NFZs). But, keep in mind that we are very short on dev time, and the current solution (while imperfect) is workable.
Aug 01, 2016 Mi5 link
Grey usernames soon?
Aug 01, 2016 incarnate link
Perhaps, but that's pretty far outside the scope of the current discussion.
Aug 01, 2016 Mi5 link
-1,000,000,000,001 Faille, John knows how to tickle my fancies.
Aug 01, 2016 BigNastyone link
I want my damn pony and a unicorn!!!!
Aug 01, 2016 The Voluptuous Night Sky link
" (Also absent are the IFF changes and various other things)"

Has these been changed already? I am UIT admired but strike forces from uit still after me.
Aug 02, 2016 Faille Corvelle link
I get your point, Inc, and I don't expect all my wants/wishes to be addressed. I just don't want to see VO become like all the other MMOs out there with stuff like "opt-in only pvp" etc. I also don't mean "don't fix broken stuff", I am just throwing my thoughts out there. I LOVE that "space is dangerous" in VO, and that "no-where is safe". Ultimately, I just want that policy to continue. It's the risk/danger that makes VO fun.

In the end, we all have the option of leaving if VO no longer entertains us, so don't take my "suggestions" too seriously. I knew VO would evolve when I started, and while not every change will be to my taste, its still my favourite space MMO.
Aug 02, 2016 incarnate link
Faille: That's good to hear. And overall, I have some specific tenets that I hold a lot more closely than others..

- No Safe Place (gradients of relative safety, but not absolute)
- Always allow non-consensual PvP
- Real-time combat

We would probably be a more financially successful game if I had been willing to compromise on those more heavily. But, to date, I choose not to.. because they are at the core of the identity of Vendetta Online.

Beyond that, there are some other guidelines as far as what's in the "spirit" of the game, and I agree, I would prefer to avoid 'magical' mechanics as much as possible. But it's that last "as much as possible" that can be the sticking point. If I have to do a bit of a gameplay 'hack' for the betterment of the game, I will do so, but I'll try to limit the scope as much as possible. I don't think a lack of mines in NFZs is much of a burden on anyone. If it becomes a burden, then hey, we'll change it evolve things further.

As they say.. the only certainty in life is change..
Aug 02, 2016 abortretryfail link
The mines on stations weren't a burden since you guys fixed them so that explosions destroy them years ago. Now all it takes is some rocket fire or a ship exploding nearby to clear mines off a dock.

As much as this might be convenient for you guys to not have to deal with customer service complaints about station-induced player deaths, it also removes fun gameplay aspects from a game that sorely needs new fun things to do. Particularly fun things involving many players...

When was the last time you added something fun to do. Not fun to look at, DO.
Aug 02, 2016 incarnate link
Yes, well, you also don't have to read newbie rage-quit messages and reviews on a regular basis, either. Burden "for you" is not the same as burden "in general".

Yes, we need to add more things to do. Adding something to do was not in the time budget we happened to have late on a Friday right before a release. (Also, my comparison about support requests was in reference to having the mines auto-explode instantly, rather than just not be dropped.. it's not like it would have made for a different actual situation).

Generally, I try not to remove something without adding something in the same release, but that doesn't always work out.